No Regrets in the Rearview

By: Doug McKayOct 23, 2013

Josh
Burkman is 8-1 since being released by the UFC. | Photo: Lester
Muranaka/Sherdog.com

“Life is a series of tests and you either pass the test and move
on or you sit and go through the same cycles over and over again
because you can’t pass those tests. You can’t evolve mentally,
physically, or spiritually.” -- Josh
Burkman

This particular test is the latest in a series of high-amplitude
moments of decision making that have punctuated Burkman’s life and
set the course for his current resurgence as one of MMA’s premier
welterweights. The first such crossroads came after Burkman, a high
school standout in football, decided to accept a scholarship to
play running back for the University of Utah. However, he needed
extra cash for a prerequisite course at the junior college he was
attending and somewhat randomly signed up for a local MMA bout in
hopes of landing the $100 prize.

That changed everything.

“It was the biggest rush of my life. I loved it,” Burkman said. “I
knew that I had found something that I wanted to do and I was
passionate about, so I told my parents I wasn’t going to take my
scholarship and I called up the University of Utah and told them I
wasn’t going to be reporting for school. I changed my career path
and my life to be a professional fighter.”

It was a rather bold move for a college kid, especially one who had
spent the majority of his life focused on one day being a
professional football player. Still, the decision was made and
before long, Burkman had compiled an impressive 13-3 record and
earned the chance to join the
Ultimate Fighting Championship. Sailing there was a little less
smooth, as Burkman went 5-5 during an Octagon tenure marred by
injury. After losing to Pete Sell at UFC
90, Burkman was cut from the promotion. The injuries that he had
sustained to his back and neck prompted no less than three
different doctors to tell him he needed to retire from the fight
game.

“I asked myself what I was doing with my life,” Burkman said. “I
was 29 years old, had a so-so career and was being told I had to
retire. I had to do a self-inventory and ask myself, if I retired
right then would I be happy with my career? The answer was no and
that I’d look back and have so many regrets. I wasn’t happy.”

Photo: D.
Mandel/Sherdog.com

Carl has won six straight.

There on the doorstep of crossroads number two, Burkman decided it
was time once again to make a change, not in what sport he chose
but in the lifestyle he followed. He had always been disciplined
during his training camps, but between bouts, his penchant for an
active nightlife and his appetite for the company of beautiful
young women was the stuff of burgeoning legend and more than a
little envy.

“I had a very exciting first 30 years,” Burkman said, with just a
hint of a chuckle.

The time had come to go in another direction. Burkman quit drinking
and frequenting nightclubs, and he started a relationship with
international yoga champion Brandy Lyn Winfield. They married in
2011 and welcomed a child a year later. Burkman also embarked on
“nine months of yoga, raw food, sports psychology and rehab, and I
didn’t step in the gym one time.” The man who emerged on the other
side of that experience has since gone 8-1, including three
straight victories in the World Series of Fighting, his tear
punctuated by a stunning 41-second submission victory over the
heavily favored Jon Fitch
at WSOF 3.

“There’s a funny story about that,” Burkman said. “Right before my
fight with Fitch, we had a training session and a kid was asking me
about guillotines. I told him that it wasn’t something that I used
much, but I showed him it and then I ended up guillotining
Fitch.”

“The more I help them,” he added, referencing the younger fighters
at The Pit Elevated gym in Salt Lake City, “the more I help
myself.”

Burkman believes his best years as a fighter are still in front of
him. However, once the time to retire does arrive, he seems ready
for yet another moment of high-amplitude decision making.

“I have a whole game plan of how I will exit fighting,” he said.
“Right now, I run a mixed martial arts studio, and I want to turn
my studios into community centers. After I build community centers,
I want to go into politics. Hopefully, those community centers and
the foundation that runs them will give me a platform to run for
governor.”

“

I don’t want to go out there
and fight; I want to go out there
and perform. I want to make
my artwork look better.

”

-- Josh Burkman, WSOF
welterweight

Sure, it sounds ambitious, but Burkman does not seem to make
significant decisions of any other sort. In the meantime, he
remains focused on the goal ahead of him. “The Ultimate Fighter”
Season 2 alum plans to approach the chance to finally capture a
world title in the same balanced manner in which he has approaches
everything else nowadays.

“I was an ‘Ultimate Fighter’ earlier in my career, and the
definition of fighting is to struggle,” Burkman said. “Now, I’m
more of a martial artist. I don’t want to go out there and fight; I
want to go out there and perform. I want to make my artwork look
better. It takes a lot of mental, physical and spiritual belief.”